[casi] Outrageous Bush Executive Order on Iraq Oil Must Be Investigated

From: "AS-ILAS" <AS-ILAS@DELETETHISgmx.de>

Subject: [casi] Outrageous Bush Executive Order on Iraq Oil Must Be Investigated

Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2003 08:04:35 +0200

1) Outrageous Bush Executive Order on Iraq Oil Must Be Investigated
2) Executive Order 13303 of May 22, 2003
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1)
http://www.earthrights.org/news/eo13303.shtml
Outrageous Bush Executive Order on Iraq Oil Must Be Investigated
July 28, 2003
EarthRights International
President Bush has issued an Executive Order, so far completely unreported,
that purports to grant broad legal immunity to oil companies operating in
Iraq. The Order is, on its face, outrageous, and should be investigated.
Executive Order 13303
http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/executive_orders/2003.html#13303,
issued on May 22, 2003, claims to be essential to Iraqi reconstruction
efforts. A cursory reading of the Order indicates that its real purpose is
to protect oil companies by giving virtual impunity for any activities
undertaken relating to Iraqi oil.
This Order, with broad language that seems to sweep aside federal statutes,
including the Alien Tort Claims Act http://www.notortureforprofit.org/ , has
received no public attention. It has been brought to light by a researcher
with the Sustainable Energy and Environment Network (SEEN)
http://www.seen.org/BushEO.shtml.
Under this Order, an oil company complicit in human rights violations, or
one that causes environmental damage, would be immune from lawsuits. The
language of the Executive Order is so broad that it might as well have been
written by lawyers for Halliburton, ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco.
In 13303, President Bush declares a national emergency as the basis for
protecting the Development Fund for Iraq (an entity intended to fund
reconstruction efforts with oil proceeds, overseen by an international board
including World Bank officials) as well as all Iraqi petroleum, petroleum
products, “interests”, proceeds, and contracts related to Iraqi petroleum.
Claiming that interference with Iraqi petroleum, petroleum products, and
“interests therein” jeopardizes reconstruction efforts in Iraq, EO 13303
offers a wide range of protections to certain persons, entities and assets
associated with the Iraqi oil industry. The document is apparently intended
as a sweeping grant of immunity to individuals, corporations, agencies and
others involved in Iraqi oil sales, marketing, or other oil-related
activities.
The Order provides protection at both the front end—the activities that
generate the oil—as well as the back—the profits and proceeds that ensue.
U.S. companies engaged in petroleum-related work in Iraq are purportedly
given broad immunity from suits for environmental damage, workplace harms,
contractual disputes, and numerous other wrongs. For example, a U.S. oil
company benefiting from human rights abuses, no matter how egregious,
apparently falls within the Order’s immunity from suit. Similarly, the Order
purports to protect any assets derived from Iraqi oil from judgment,
garnishment, or any other seizure in U.S. courts. For example, if a
corporate entity or an individual engages in criminal activity in the U.S.,
its assets traceable to Iraqi oil are protected by this order. The list of
situations in which a person or corporation could get away with, if not
murder, then at least millions, is endless.
The title of the EO, “Protecting the Development Fund for Iraq and Certain
Other Property in Which Iraq Has an Interest,” is a sham. This EO may be
about Iraq, but it’s also about the oil industry exclusively. (Remember the
Administration has claimed that the Iraq war had nothing to do with oil?)
There is nothing at all about protecting humanitarian organizations,
communications, computer or electrical companies, or other industries that
are critical to Iraq’s reconstruction.
EarthRights International is joining SEEN and the Government Accountability
Project in investigating the legitimacy of this Order. We call on Congress
to investigate EO 13303 immediately.
---------------
2)
http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/executive_orders/2003.html#13303
Wednesday,
May 28, 2003
Part VIII
The President
Executive Order 13303—Protecting the
Development Fund for Iraq and Certain
Other Property in Which Iraq Has an
Interest
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28MYE0?Presidential Documents
31931
Federal Register
Vol. 68, No. 102
Wednesday, May 28, 2003
Title 3—
The President
Executive Order 13303 of May 22, 2003
Protecting the Development Fund for Iraq and Certain Other
Property in Which Iraq Has an Interest
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the
laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act, as amended (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the
National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), section 5 of the United
Nations Participation Act, as amended (22 U.S.C. 287c) (UNPA), and section
301 of title 3, United States Code,
I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, find that
the threat of attachment or other judicial process against the Development
Fund for Iraq, Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests
therein,
and proceeds, obligations, or any financial instruments of any nature
whatso-ever
arising from or related to the sale or marketing thereof, and interests
therein, obstructs the orderly reconstruction of Iraq, the restoration and
maintenance of peace and security in the country, and the development
of political, administrative, and economic institutions in Iraq. This
situation
constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security
and foreign policy of the United States and I hereby declare a national
emergency to deal with that threat.
I hereby order:
Section 1. Unless licensed or otherwise authorized pursuant to this order,
any attachment, judgment, decree, lien, execution, garnishment, or other
judicial process is prohibited, and shall be deemed null and void, with
respect to the following:
(a) the Development Fund for Iraq, and
(b) all Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests therein,
and proceeds, obligations, or any financial instruments of any nature
whatso-ever
arising from or related to the sale or marketing thereof, and interests
therein, in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any
interest,
that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States,
or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of United
States persons.
Sec. 2. (a) As of the effective date of this order, Executive Order 12722
of August 2, 1990, Executive Order 12724 of August 9, 1990, and Executive
Order 13290 of March 20, 2003, shall not apply to the property and interests
in property described in section 1 of this order.
(b) Nothing in this order is intended to affect the continued effectiveness
of any rules, regulations, orders, licenses or other forms of administrative
action issued, taken, or continued in effect heretofore or hereafter under
Executive Orders 12722, 12724, or 13290, or under the authority of IEEPA
or the UNPA, except as hereafter terminated, modified, or suspended by
the issuing Federal agency and except as provided in section 2(a) of this
order.
Sec. 3. For the purposes of this order:
(a) The term ‘‘person’’ means an individual or entity;
(b) The term ‘‘entity’’ means a partnership, association, trust, joint
venture,
corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization;
(c) The term ‘‘United States person’’ means any United States citizen,
permanent resident alien, entity organized under the laws of the United
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No. 102 / Wednesday, May 28, 2003 / Presidential Documents
States or any jurisdiction within the United States (including foreign
branches), or any person in the United States;
(d) The term ‘‘Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products’’ means any
petro-leum,
petroleum products, or natural gas originating in Iraq, including any
Iraqi-origin oil inventories, wherever located; and
(e) The term ‘‘Development Fund for Iraq’’ means the fund established
on or about May 22, 2003, on the books of the Central Bank of Iraq,
by the Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority responsible for
the temporary governance of Iraq and all accounts held for the fund or
for the Central Bank of Iraq in the name of the fund.
Sec. 4. (a) The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the
Secretary
of State and the Secretary of Defense, is hereby authorized to take such
actions, including the promulgation of rules and regulations, and to employ
all powers granted to the President by IEEPA and the UNPA as may be
necessary to carry out the purposes of this order. The Secretary of the
Treasury may redelegate any of these functions to other officers and
agencies
of the United States Government. All agencies of the United States
Govern-ment
are hereby directed to take all appropriate measures within their statu-tory
authority to carry out the provisions of this order.
(b) Nothing contained in this order shall relieve a person from any
require-ment
to obtain a license or other authorization in compliance with applicable
laws and regulations.
Sec. 5. This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right,
benefit,
or privilege, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by
a party against the United States, its departments, agencies, entities,
officers,
employees, or agents, or any other person.
Sec. 6. This order shall be transmitted to the Congress and published in
the Federal Register.
W
THE WHITE HOUSE,
May 22, 2003.
[FR Doc. 03–13412
Filed 5–23–03; 11:28 am]
Billing code 3195–01–P
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